Balance
by ProfessorCactustheThird
Summary: Toby promised Happy that he would never gamble again, and he intends to keep his promise if it kills him, but when Sylvester comes to him with a desperate plea...
_So I was writing the plot I mentioned on Tubmlr, but it started getting little long and I got sidetracked and this came up from somewhere. It's not my best work (and i'll publish the other one soon, I promise!) but I also couldn't not churn this one out…_

 _(Also, please don't hate Sly in this! I just found it endearing but also a little surprising how out of it he seemed in the last ep, like not getting common slang and such, so I decided to play on that here. He's still my precious, adorkable teddy bear)_

* * *

Toby and Happy walked into the garage together, already laughing at the mental image of Walter's face, still disgusted by the implication of them coming in together although their relationship had been out for weeks now. They stopped short, however, as they saw Sylvester sitting amidst his what was left of his game show haul, looking worse than when Walter had suggested shooting down Birdroni.

"What's wrong Sly? Another friend of Cabe's stole your oil again?" Toby smirked, brushing off Cabe's _"Hey!"_ of protest from somewhere inside the garage.

The mathematical prodigy shook his head forlornly, "The auction for the naming rights is tomorrow, and I barely have the other half of the amount I need for my bid."

Happy frowned, hating to see who was essentially her younger brother this sad. "I thought you made an arrangement with one of Elia's friends to run business risk potentialities or something?"

Sylvester shook his head. "There's a hold up on their side and they can only transfer the money on Thursday at the earliest- and that's three days too late."

"Hey, if there's anything we can do... I can go beat them up for you, my boxing is getting better." Toby tried to lighten the mood and it worked, eliciting a small smile from Sylvester.

The younger genius stared at the ground for a while longer, then suddenly looked up at Toby and shifted uncomfortably, as if he had a difficult proposition to make. "Uhm..."

"Yeah? Because if you want to sell a kidney, I did ace my renal surgery rota- ow! What? I was just trying to help, sweetheart, you have a better idea?"

"Actually Toby, I was thinking maybe..." Sylvester trailed off, clearly uneasy at having to ask this of his friend. "You don't have to of course, but that time when Walter got arrested in Vegas, and between you and me we, uhm..."

Toby felt his breath catch as he realized what Sly was getting at. He glanced at Happy, who he felt stiffen beside him, but she just shrugged indifferently, shooting him a _figure it out yourself_ look before walking further into the garage.

"Ouch," Paige intercepted her, trying to illicit a more emotional response, but Happy brushed her off.

"He's old enough to make his own decisions, and hopefully smart enough to make the right one."

Toby watched the girls' exchange as he felt Sylvester's hopeful, pleading eyes on him. He didn't blame the younger genius- he didn't know what had transpired on the roof two weeks ago. The others knew, but Sly had been too busy peddling his wares to pay attention to the garage gossip.

One on hand, Toby understood and respected what this would mean for Sly, for Megan, for Walter, and by extension for the entire team.

But he also knew what it would mean for Happy.

"I feel a little rusty, and I don't think you'd appreciate me losing it all instead, right?" He joked and Sylvester shook his head fervently. "I'll think about it, okay buddy?" Toby patted him on the back and walked toward the workstations.

Walter had come downstairs, pretending to dig through some paperwork while not-so-subtly watching between Happy and Toby. _Worst tail in history_ Toby scoffed to himself _also, to hell with him_.

He headed over to Happy's bench, where she was already taking out her tools with more force than she had used in weeks. He approached her carefully from behind, rubbing her arms as he whispered _You know how much I love you_ with a kiss to her temple.

Happy tensed under his touch, and even more under his words. She hadn't told him this yet, but the reason she wasn't such a fan of those words was because that was the last thing her father had said to her, before he handed her over to the nurse at St. Luke's. She'd learnt when she was only two, that just because people say it, doesn't mean their actions reflect it.

Toby sighed at her lack of response, though he knew better than to push her any further. Squeezing her arms one last time, he walked back to his desk, trying his best to ignore Walter and Cabe's watchful gaze, and Paige's pity.

Happy distanced herself from him for the rest of the day, partly to brace herself for if he did break and end up hurting her, but also to observe what he would do when left alone. She considered telling Sly, but she cared about him enough to know that the guilt he would feel, added on to his stress about the money, would break him down even further.

And besides, this was Toby's problem, not his.

Walter, Paige and Cabe seemed to follow Happy's wordless directions, talking to him briefly about work and lunch but not delving into the elephant in the room. Toby respected her too, giving her room but always there with the adoring, warm smile he reserved just for her whenever their eyes made contact, and hoping that she'd trust him to know that he would never do that to her.

There was thankfully no case that day so Toby asked Walter if he could leave early, a plan already in his mind. He felt Happy's eyes on him as he went up to her to tell her he was going, the hurt and vulnerability he saw through her mask of indifference breaking his heart.

He only hoped she'd be able to laugh it off tomorrow.

* * *

Everyone except Cabe was already there when Toby walked into the garage the next day, a little later than usual, all of them staring at him expectantly, save for Happy who didn't even glance up from her work. Motioning for the others to wait, he turned to grin at Sylvester before pulling out a slightly crumpled check.

"This should cover it, right buddy?"

Sylvester's eyes widened as he took in the number on the check, his mathematical genius all but down the drain as he tried to process the seven figures. "S... seriously?" He choked, looking up from the check at Toby and then down again.

"Congrats Sly," Toby grinned as he stuff his hands into his pockets and rocked slightly on his heels.

Sylvester blinked up at him. "But how...?"

"Nah, don't worry about it," Toby tried to keep his voice light for the Sly's sake even as he heard Happy slam the hammer she had been using onto her bench. "Just go make her proud."

"Thank you thank you thank you!" Sylvester gripped him in a bear hug that had Toby gasping about his ribs starting to crack to be let go from. Sylvester went back to crunching the numbers, happily muttering about how he had a 98.73% chance of winning the auction, blissfully ignorant of the tension in the back of the garage.

But when Toby looked back around, Happy was gone.

He held a pleading gaze to Walter and Paige, but the former only glared at him in rage. Happy was the only sister the head genius had left, and Toby knew that Walter wouldn't hesitate to destroy him at the first hint of a mistake.

Paige eventually nodded toward the back door, unable to bear the raw pain in Toby's eyes. "But I don't think-"

He ignored her, bowing his head as he walked past Walter. He got to the back where he saw Happy in the driver's seat of her truck, gripping the steering wheel tightly, and he didn't need to squint through the tinted windows to know she was all but crying.

Toby knocked gently on the window but opened the door anyway, knowing she wouldn't respond. He already knew she was taking this badly, but nothing could have prepared him for seeing how shaky she was, hands trembling against the steering wheel as she desperately tried to control her breathing. He knew he hadn't done anything to actually hurt her, and she would know that soon enough herself, but just the scene unfolding before him, seeing his rock, the only thing that grounded him, shattering into a million pieces, he knew he had made a huge mistake by not letting her in on the plan earlier.

He'd rather die a million tortured deaths than put her through anything like this ever again.

"Happy? Hey, Hap, please just let me explain sweetheart?" He implored, gently placing a hand on her shoulder, but she jerked herself away from his touch.

"Don't call me that."

He nodded understandingly even as his heart crumpled. "You know how much this means to Sly, it would have broken his heart to be so close and yet-"

"Broken _his_ heart, huh? So why don't you just go date him instead?"

Toby winced, realizing his misstep. "Hap-"

"I trusted you." She said sharply, accusing eyes boring through him. "I let you in because you promised me you wouldn't ruin it. You know this doesn't come easily to me and you act as if you understand and yet you still had to go fuck everything up. I do feel bad for Sly, but I also hoped what we had might have meant something more to you."

Toby's blood ran cold at her very blatant and very intentional use of the past tense. Talking wasn't going to diffuse this situation, so he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a bunch of forms, laying them out carefully on her lap.

Happy's tears dropped onto the papers when she tried to blink them away to read, a frown deepening as she tried to understand what was printed. "What-"

"My parents' house back in New York- well technically mine. My dad managed to pay it off before he died, God knows how he did it. I figured I could take out a second mortgage, so I got Cabe to pull some strings and quicken the process. And I can afford it now too, since I stopped burning through every paycheck." He smiled at her as he spoke, watching the anger dissipate and be replaced wordless disbelief.

"You-"

"He was just a 16 year old kid, had barely known me for a year, when he sold his most prized possessions to help me out. And now I can finally pay back the gesture. Sly really needs the money, I mean it'll be amazing for the whole team," he paused to gently remove her hands from the wheel and hold them in both of his. "But nothing is worth more to me than keeping my promise to you, than keeping you."

Happy turned to properly face Toby for the first time in over a day, fresh tears threatening though they both knew these were out of relief than pain.

"So you..."

He nodded brightly, that deliriously eager puppy look that she loved. "And this way, I won't have much spare cash to throw away even if I feel like it. Figured it was a win-win situation."

Happy blinked up at him, more tears falling and staining her black tank top an even darker color, as she struggled to find the words. Nobody has ever gone this far, done so much, genuinely changed for the better just for her and the way she needs it, and she didn't know what to say. "Toby, I..."

"I love you Happy," he said gently, brushing away the hair that had escaped her hastily pulled ponytail. "I have never meant anything more sincerely. You need to know and trust me that I'll never hurt you, least of all like this."

She nodded, mulling over her thoughts for a moment before jumping out of the truck and punching him in the chest.

"Ow! What-"

"Don't you _ever_ do that to me again." She snapped. "You have no idea what I went through last night, and I'm not going to hang around for a round 2." Toby nodded emphatically, remembering her threat from a few weeks ago of _I won't have to break up with you because you'll be dead_ . Happy softened then, gingerly reaching out for his hand. "But thank you."

He smiled at her, the one filled with all the adoration and love in the world that he saved just for her, pulling her into a hug and alternating between kissing the side of her face and whispering how much he loved her, until she relaxed into his embrace and hugged him back.

Walter cleared his throat over speakers they didn't even know they had outside, followed by a muffled argument, and they jumped apart. "Yes, well this is all very... satisfactory." There was a ruffling as he muttered to someone (obviously Paige) behind him, how ' _it expresses my opinion about this situation efficiently enough_ ', and Happy and Toby burst out laughing despite themselves. "But if you would like to keep your jobs then please come back inside right now."

Toby pulled Happy back into his arms. "Nah, he won't fire us."

"He will," Happy muttered into his chest, hating to have to leave Toby's warmth.

"I will." Walter confirmed.

"Goddamnit."

* * *

 _Hope this wasn't too bad for something I scribbled in between lectures heh, and hang around for the other one that I'll post soon…ish_

 _Love you!_


End file.
